Erin Honkala might be at the center of the Howell girls' basketball team in her senior year, but one could argue the reason the Highlanders have made a transformation from good to great in the 2015-2016 season has as much to do with her as it does their three spectacular sophomores.

Leah Weslock, Alexis Miller and Paige Johnson are starters for the Highlanders this year, and each of them are 10th-graders that have seamlessly adapted to their designated roles under first-year Howell varsity coach Tim Olszewski. Their ability to do so despite their youth is a huge factor in why Howell has been able to accomplishment so much so far.

Miller is the team’s floor general, distributor and best on-ball defender — although she proved in the opening round of districts against Hartland that she’s a a very capable scorer as well. Johnson distributes, too, as the secondary point guard, but perhaps her biggest strength is creating her own shot by getting to the basket.

Weslock, meanwhile, is a pure scorer. She shoots, she gets to the rim, she makes cuts to get herself open — she’s only a sophomore, but she has proven herself to be the total package in terms of what a coach seeks in his go-to scoring option.

Weslock is not yet that go-to option. That distinction still belongs to Honkala. Yet Honkala’s career at Howell will come to an end the next time Howell loses a game — or, of course, if it wins the Class A championship in a few weeks. The sophomore forward has assured the Highlanders that they will be in good hands when it comes to scoring the next two seasons.

This week's Athlete of the Week's transformation to a First Team All-KLAA player started with Weslock's confidence.

“As a freshman, I saw how things worked (but) started to get comfortable my sophomore year,” said Weslock on the phone Thursday ahead of her team’s district title showdown with Brighton on tonight at Hartland High School. “It scared me (freshman year) at first (with the older players), but then I got excited and wanted to play with them and go against them.”

It was a matter of becoming more sure of herself, more sure that she could make the clutch shot when her team needed it, more sure of being able to handle the ball without turning it over and more sure that she would consistently — if not always — make the right decisions on the court.

As a ninth-grader, she wasn’t there yet. She showed flashes, which allowed her to be on varsity and get some time, but not what she desired. She had the talent, she just needed to get there mentally. And by the time this season came around, she had done just that.

“I’ve built up my confidence to be able to shoot much,” she said. “But I’m still wiring on it. It’s just progressing, and I’m getting more and more confident.”

Night’s like last Friday against Hartland will help.

Last week, in the third battle of four against Hartland — all of which Howell won — Weslock posted a team-high 18 points to lead her team to an overtime win over the rival Eagles. As a result, Howell claimed its first Lakes Conference title and a piece of the KLAA Association Championship, which it shared with Wayne Memorial.

In that game, the Eagles had finally succeeded in holding Honkala down on offense. She still reached double figures with 10 points, but Hartland coach Don Palmer said in the past that keeping her at less than 13 — something Hartland couldn’t do in the two prior games — had a high likelihood of resulting in an Eagles victory.

Of course, that was true only if Hartland could contain the other Howell threats.

It couldn’t.

Weslock stepped up in a big situation, and her 18 points were huge for the Highlanders.

“We passed the ball around real well, so I got a lot of open looks,” she said. “It was a team effort and everyone shot when they got open. But we reversed the ball really well, and I ended up being on the reversal side, so I got open a lot and they just didn’t come out to guard me.”

Weslock notices that teams elect not to come out a lot with Honkala down beneath the hoop.

That’s why she’s become so important to the team. If teams aren’t going to close out on the shooters so that they can double- or triple-team Honkala, players like Weslock, Miller and Johnson must be able to knock them down.

All of them are more than capable. Weslock’s proven to be the most consistent so far.

The team’s second-leading scorer, her continued success in capitalizing on what opponents are allowing her will be vital in Howell continuing its tournament run. It will be vital tonight against Brighton, and should they move on, it will be vital in each game in regionals and, they hope, further than that.

With the way this team’s operating, the sophomore forward views that as a serious possibility.

“I see us going all the way to states,” Weslock said. “We work really well as a team. Our defense is really good. And I see us still going far in the following years.”